Senior Kashmiri Journalist Detained in Srinagar Over Social Media Post

New Delhi: A senior journalist based in Srinagar was detained by the Jammu and Kashmir Police on the charges of promoting “disaffection” against India and “secessionist ideology” through his social media accounts.

In a statement on Monday (May 7), the Counter Intelligence Kashmir (CIK) wing of J&K Police said that Hilal Mir, a resident of Bemina in Srinagar, who worked with Turkey-based Anadolu news agency, was detained for “inciting sentiments among young minds and instigating secessionist sentiment by portraying Kashmiris as victims of systemic extermination” through social media.

Describing Mir as “radical social media user”, the CIK statement said that Mir “used to disseminate extremist/distorted content with an intention to disturb peace and promote disaffection and secessionist ideology and present India in a bad shape.”

Sources told The Wire that Mir, who has previously worked with Hindustan Times, was summoned by the CIK last week and questioned among other issues over a Facebook post shared by him on May 1.

The Facebook post, which was later deleted by Mir, included a photo showing an old woman walking along the debris of a residential house which was among at least nine houses demolished in south Kashmir by security forces in the aftermath of Pahalgam terrorist attack.

The photo of the woman had gone viral on social media. Mir’s post said: “My schizophrenic Kashmiri soul, don’t spread yourself thin. Think. The side you should be on has already been chosen for you. Focus. Don’t look elsewhere. You are the victim. You have been trampled upon, dispossessed, brutalised, humiliated, maimed, for no sin of yours. You are being erased. You don’t owe anything to anyone, least of all to those who revel in your misery, who have on their mind the medieval Spain and Gaza as templates for your annihilation. Take rest, or a 15-day chilla if you may. Contemplate. You alone are in danger, vulnerable, weakened. You alone are the target.”

The CIK statement said that Mir's posts on Facebook and Twitter “reflect a veiled attempt to cultivate public resentment which is a threat to security/sovereignty” of India. The police have also seized Mir's laptop and mobile phone.

“A preliminary inspection of the ‘digital devices’ revealed access to the radical account along with incriminating materials and other extremist, distorted content and propaganda,” the statement said, adding that Mir was “found in touch with some suspected foreign based cell numbers involved in suspicious activities.”

A family source said that Mir, who has written extensively for TRT World and also worked as an editor at prominent Kashmir-based English newspapers, was in touch with his colleagues in Anadolu news agency and was also part of some WhatsApp groups of journalists which may also have foreign journalists as their members.

However, the CIK statement said that Mir was “presumably taking dictation from the adversary for disturbing the peace and tranquillity in the valley which is a matter of investigation”. It said that Mir has been “brought within the ambit of investigation and further probe is in progress.”

In a 2019 report, in the aftermath of the reading down of Article 370, for Turkey-based TRT World, titled ‘How India silenced Kashmir’s leading newspaper columnists’, Mir wrote how the government “arm-twisted local press” in J&K and how critical opinion writers were asked to either moderate their write-ups or “stop writing”.

Mir was among four journalists whose houses were raided by Jammu and Kashmir Police in 2021 in connection with a probe into a provocative post published by ‘Kashmir Fight’ blog. The post had accused some people in Kashmir, including some journalists, of being agents of security agencies and the government.

However, no charges were framed against the journalists at that time and the raids were condemned by the Committee to Protect Journalists among other press freedom defenders.